Articles

When Visalia resident Arthur Villareal was hit on his motorcycle, his wife Karen knew he needed to go to where she once worked as a nurse – Community Regional Medical Center’s Level 1 trauma center to receive top care. What she didn’t know, being so far from home, was the care she would also find for herself at Terry’s House.

Soua Xiong’s hospital room was eerily empty so Jane Lee, a Hmong interpreter at Community Regional Medical Center, poked her head in to check on this patient and chat for a while. Normally Hmong elders are attended by their children or grandchildren, explained Lee, so a room empty of visitors should be an alert for staff to pay a bit more attention.

California’s hospitals report nearly 13 million emergency department patient encounters a year. With the number of hospitals with emergency care decreasing statewide from 365 to 330 since 2000, and the number of patients increasing by 35% during the same time period, those seeking care can experience long waits. Community is working in a number of ways to expedite treatment – especially at its busiest hospital, Community Regional Medical Center.

The Bee Gee’s 1977 disco beat “Stayin’ Alive” can help do just that when health educators teach a new way to save a life. Community Medical Centers is teaming up with American Ambulance to spread the word about how to respond if you see someone who has suddenly collapsed: Call 9-1-1, then lock your elbows and press down hard and fast in the middle of the collapsed person’s chest, and hum “Stayin’ Alive.” The iconic disco tune bops along at 100 beats a minute, the perfect rhythm for compression-only CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.)